


Inked Above my Heart

by TheDogPotato



Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 12:18:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17549555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDogPotato/pseuds/TheDogPotato
Summary: Riley and Mansell discover that Kent actually does have a tattoo on his chest.





	Inked Above my Heart

“Alright so the meeting is in half an hour. It only takes 10 minutes to drive there, but we should probably get you wired up now, Kent,” Miles concluded a briefing in which they’d discussed how Kent should approach an undercover mission.

Kent smiled and gave a short nod towards Miles.

Riley who had picked up the wire earlier walked over to hand it to him, and then prepared a piece of tape.

“Uh,” Kent hesitated when he realized they expected him to quickly just put it on where they were. He was aware that it’d be the obvious and effective thing to do, but he had a good reason why he didn’t want that. “I’d rather just do this myself.”

Riley looked up in surprise. “Oh, um alright. It’d just be easier with help though, but if you’re sure.”

She stepped back, but it still seemed like they expected him to just unbutton his shirt there. At the thought he felt his cheeks starting to warm, unwantingly giving away his discomfort to the people around him. He could see Mansell perk up a bit.

Kent stood up. “I’ll just…” he gestured towards the bathroom door.

“You afraid we’re gonna see that you don’t have any chest hair?” Mansell joked, and Kent shot him a glare for him bringing more unnecessary focus on his discomfort, giving Mansell exactly the reaction, he wanted.

Kent was about to reply, but Miles, seeing that this might become an argument, something they didn’t have time for, remarked:

“If the boss here can confront a whole church of loonies bare-chested, I think you’ll be alright just putting that on now. We don’t have much time.”

Chandler sent him an indignant look at that, but Miles didn’t seem to notice.

Kent knew it’d be weird if he put up too much of a resistance, but he _couldn’t_ open his shirt in front of them. Instead he just stood there without a proper argument as to why he didn’t want to, feeling his cheeks grow warmer.

Although the flush in his cheeks gave away more than he wanted to, it did prompt Miles to step in again to get things moving.

“Just turn the other way then! Come on!” he barked, and Kent took that as a good compromise.

He turned around, unbuttoned his shirt, grabbed the tape and the wire and began attaching the device to his chest, when he heard the distinct sound of Mansell trying to suppress his laughter. Kent’s head shot up at the sound, and he realized that by turning around, he now stood facing the glass of Chandler’s office. In the glass he could see Mansell on one side just as red in the face as himself, but for a different reason. He was trying not to crack up with laughter. Glancing to the other side, he could see that Mansell’s reaction had gotten Riley curious and she’d leant to the side to get a view in the glass as well.

Kent’s heart sank. They’d both seen it.

Kent glanced shortly at the black letters right above his heart. The word _Joe_ written in neat cursive letters. There was no doubt in Kent’s mind that they both knew who the tattoo was referring to. He quickly buttoned up his shirt again, and turned around to face the others, despite not wanting to see the grins on his fellow DCs’ faces.

He automatically glanced over at Chandler who looked disapprovingly at Mansell. For all the ammunition Mansell and Riley had just gotten, in that moment Kent could only hope that Chandler hadn’t seen as well.

Miles, ever wanting to get a move on, ordered them to the cars, and Kent imagined Mansell skipping with glee behind him, as they walked to the car. Of course Mansell and Riley were to be on standby nearby in case anything went wrong and therefore they all had to take the same car.

As soon as they’d entered the car, Mansell let out a roar of laughter that he’d been keeping at bay.

“I can _not_ be _lieve_ you actually have a tattoo related to the boss!” he said.

“Kent,” Riley said gasping from breath in between her laughs. “You don’t even know. We talked about this before. We were so close!” Looking at Riley, as she said that, Kent noticed she had tears of laughter in her eyes.

Kent’s embarrassment quickly mixed with anger at their reaction. “Yeah. Ha. Ha. Eyes on the road or we’ll crash alright?” He said through gritted teeth.

“No need to have our eyes elsewhere. You already covered up the tattoo so nothing else to look at, mate,” Mansell said.

“Actually, I’ve an idea. You could just go in there with no shirt and add “Hello my name is” above it. There, a new identity, easy peasy,” Riley said.

“Yeah I’m sure they wouldn’t notice the wire if that was the case,” Kent replied.

Mansell giggled. “Nah they wouldn’t. They’d be too busy looking at your sweet _tat_. Is it his signature by the way?”

“No! I’m not a stalker!” Kent said indignantly, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he noticed the glance between the two of them and intercepted before any of them said anything. “Shut up! It was a spur of the moment thing when I was drunk. I didn’t plan on getting this!”

This knowledge sent both of them into a new fit of laughter. Kent sighed and wished they’d just get to their destination as soon as possible. He’d have to collect himself before going in, but luckily there’d be time enough for it.

“You know if things were to go bad, we could add “if lost please return to” above it. A very smart idea to have as a tattoo really, since a dog collar might look a bit weird,” Mansell grinned.

Kent clenched his teeth and flexed his fist. “Mansell, I swear, I’m gonna punch you so hard you go through the front window.” It took all his self-restraint to just talk about it instead of hitting him, but he remembered the mission ahead of him.

Mansell huffed and coolly responded: “And how did that go for you last time, doggie? Your bark is worse than your bite.”

Kent was fuming, but he decided that he’d rather not keep the conversation going, so he held his tongue.

Shortly after Riley announced that they’d arrived at the drop off point.

She turned around and added: “I’d pretend I’d been running to get there if I were you. You’re as red a tomato!”

Kent sighed. He wanted to snap at them, but there was something weighing heavily on his mind that he had to ask them about, so he took a deep breath to try to regain his composure. Mansell and Riley both waited expectantly when they noticed the shift in his demeanor.

“I have to ask you something,” he said in a serious tone, and he noticed they’d both calmed down as well.

“Yeah?” Mansell asked.

Kent hesitated, afraid of either their reaction or their reply. “Do… do you think he saw it?”

Mansell sent him a genuine smile and was completely serious in his response: “No, he was too busy trying to stare me down, probably thinking I was just laughing at you for being shy.”

The response instilled a small sense of relief in Kent, and with that he exited the car, about to start the mission.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ^_^


End file.
